Chapter 38 (Matt) - The Souls Burden
"Come on guys!" Ruby yelled, "If we pick up the pace we can reach the next town before sunset.", "Easy for you to say…" Matt moaned, "You're used to moving. Even your semblance is about moving. Mines all about getting pissed and hitting as hard as I can!", "Well why don't you just hit the ground...really hard… with your feet, to hurry up?", "That's not how it works, Ruby…" Matt replied.
"We don't even know if the next town will be there." Jaune said. "Of course it'll be there." Ruby replied, "This one's supposed to be pretty big! Hee...gan...bay...na…?". "Higanbana." Ren corrected, "It's a well protected village with a popular inn.", "Which means…" Nora continued, "No more camping in the rain!". "See, everything's gonna be fine!" Ruby assured Jaune. "I guess…" Jaune agreed, "We,be had our ups and downs, but things could be a lot worse! I thought we'd see more Grimm.", "As did I." Ren added. "I guess our luck is finally turning around!" Nora yelled, while Matt grumbled "I could really use something to hit right now…".
"That took longer than I thought..." Ren said to the group, as they walked into town. "Damn it's late. Where d'ya think the inn is?" Matt asked, which Nora immediately responded "Over there." as she pointed towards a small building with a large, bright, glowing sign with the words 'Medali Inn' on the center of it. "Finally, a place to rest." Matt sighed as they all made their way towards the small inn.
"Hello, sir." Ruby greeted a man at the front desk, "Can we have five rooms, please?". "'Fraid not. There's only four rooms available." The man responded. "Damn. Well what're we gonna do?" Nora asked. "Well some of us could share rooms." Jaune suggested, which was followed up by Matt saying "Yea, how about Ren and Nora share a room, since they're, ya know, a thing.". Ren and Nora both looked at Matt, then at each other, and then both frantically began explaining about how they both aren't together. "Alright, alright." Mat sighed, "Well someone has to share a room. I'm not too bothered if I have to share one.", "Well I kinda want a room of my own." Jaune said. "Me too…" Both Ren and Nora replied. "Guess that leaves us." Matt said to Ruby. "Wait, but won't it be...awkward sharing a room with a girl...as well as you being older than me-", "Not to me." Matt replied, "It's only awkward if you make it awkward, and it's not like we have a choice. I'll even sleep in my sleeping bag if you want.". "Ugh, fine!" Ruby gave in, "We'll take four rooms.", "Can do." The man replied chipperly as he passed them all keys.
As Matt and Ruby walked into the room, they noticed everything was tidy, but old fashioned, with a single bed in the center of the room, a door leading to a bathroom, and a window. The second Matt set his sleeping bag down, he took off Anngotic, and walked into the bathroom. "I'm just taking a shower, Ruby. Don't come in!", "Alright!" Ruby yelled back. While Matt was in the shower, he heard metal bang on the ground, followed my Ruby quietly saying "Dammit!". "Ruby?" Matt asked, followed by silence, "Are you messing with Anngotic?" Ruby didn't reply, so Matt put on a towel and walked out, only to see Ruby look up at him, while holding onto his gauntlets. Ruby looked like a deer in headlights, as she put them on a shelf quickly and ran to the bed. "You'll find you what I added later." Matt said, as he checked to see if any scratches were on Anngotic. However, while he was checking, his towel began to give way, and fell down. While he frantically put his weapons back and pulled the towel back up, all he could here from Ruby was laughter and "How's that for awkward?". Matt rushed back into the bathroom, only to exit again wearing lounging trousers, but no shirt.
"That wasn't funny, Lil Rose!" Matt yelled, which was just met by more laughter from Ruby. Matt who was still angry, finally gave in, and sat next to Ruby. "Well at least you're feeling a bit better.", "What do you mean?" Ruby asked, "I've been fine this entire trip.". Matt looked at her, "No, you haven't. When we've been fighting, you've not been yourself. Normally, you're a happy, kind, lovely girl. But ever since...what happened, you've been so...angry.". Ruby had a confused look on her face. "What're you talking about? You fight with anger, so why can't I?", "Ruby, don't try to fight like me. The reason I fight like I do is because of my semblance. It's who I am...who I've become…. I haven't used it in months. When I do anything, all I feel is anger, and I don't want you to feel the same. I'd rather you fight with the willpower you have, than fighting with pure rage. You deserve to have a smile on your face.". Ruby looked at Matt, and then asked "How come you haven't used your semblance in so long? Wouldn't it be better if you let your anger out, so you can at least feel happy for a while?". Matt gave a long sigh before answering. "Ruby, I don't want to have to use it. You saw how crazy I get, but you also see how protective I become. I don't want to hurt anyone I care about. I love you, I love Jaune, I love everyone that went to Beacon with us, but I can't defend them. At least, not yet. The last time I used my semblance, I woke up with a scar on my face, and I'm gonna use that as a reminder to grow stronger without it, and then learn how to use it. Just please, Ruby," Matt brought Ruby into a long hug, "be as happy as you can, and let me worry about any of us being angry, alright?". Matt then got up, and walked over to his sleeping bag. "Night, Lil Rose." Matt said, as he slowly got in his sleeping bag.
The next day, Matt woke up early, feeling incredibly hot. As he began to move, he realised her couldn't actually move around. "What the-" Matt tried to yell out, but was stopped as someone put their hand over his mouth. Suddenly, a light switched on, and Matt, tried to cover his eyes, but couldn't move properly because of some extra weight on top of him. As his eyes slowly began to adjust, he looked at what keeping him pinned and saw a girl that had cyan coloured eyes, with mint green hair on her right side, and white hair on her left. "Wouldn't want to wake her up, would we?" She said, in a sweet and innocent tone. Matt looked at Ruby, and saw her still asleep in her bed. "Now stay quiet, we need to talk.".
She slowly lifted her hand and let Matt speak, but not move. "What do you want? Who are you? How did you get in here?" Matt started firing questions. "None of that's important. You saw the White Fang at Beacon, correct?" The girl asked. "Yeah, what about them?" Matt asked. "Do you know where they are?" The girl questioned, "If I did, I would've gone after them." Matt responded. "Well you've been no help." The girl said, as she pulled out a pair of black hatchets with a green cybernetic look to them., "Thanks for cooperating!". "RUBY!" Matt yelled, instantly waking up Ruby, "Wha- what's up?" She asked, as she sat up, she saw Matt swaying his head left and right, stopping any blows from hitting his head. "Get away from him!" Ruby screamed, as she grabbed Crescent Rose that was laying next to her, and lunged at the green haired girl. The girl tried to block the attack, but Ruby was too fast, and knocked her off.
Matt began to stand up, and saw Ruby and the girl clashing in the room. Matt then looked at the girl, and saw that she was wearing a green skin tight shirt and white trousers, with two slots which must have been where her hatchets were. Matt then looked at the green haired girl and saw her head, which had ears on that pointed up. "A faunus?" Matt said to himself. "Yes, I'm a faunus. A wolf faunus to be exact." The girl replied, which startled Matt, thinking that no one heard him. "Well since you're both awake, I'll be leaving now. It's a shame I couldn't have spent longer. Goodbye for now." The girl then leaped out of the window, and landed safely in the street, before looking back up at Matt who was looking out of the window, giving him a wink, and then running off.
"What's all the yelling?!" Jaune, Ren, and Nora charged in with their weapons ready. "You're a bit too late guys." Matt said, as he sat back down in exhaustion. "That was a wake up call." Ruby said, sitting next to him. "What happened between you two?" Nora asked, everyone realised Matt and Ruby was still on their bed, and Matt was shirtless, while Ruby was in her pyjamas. "NO! Nothing like that!" Matt explained, "Some faunus girl just broke in and tried to kill me!". "Have you seen her before?" Ren asked, which Matt responded with "No. She asked me if I was at Beacon at the time of the attack, and then asked if I knew where the White Fang was.". "It seems like she's been keeping an eye on us." Jaune said, as he shivered at the thought of being watched. "We'll have to leave as soon as possible. She said that she was looking for the White Fang, but she could strike again soon." Ruby said, while Matt began to gather their equipment before leaving.